“Race against time” in Asia
The international development secretary has warned of a “race against time” to deliver aid to countries devastated by the Asian tsunami.
Downplaying suggestions the US-led “core” group initiative – backed by Australia, India and Japan – would undermine the work of the United Nations, Hilary Benn told the BBC the UN was the only body able to co-ordinate the relief effort.
“The big challenge for all of us is to make sure that that effort is co-ordinated, and the UN must play the central role in making that happen,” he said.
“The task today, tomorrow, next week, next month is to make sure the supplies get in.”
He admitted the world’s reaction to the tsunami had been too slow at first, saying people had been taken aback by the scale of the catastrophe.
He said the task ahead was to translate donations from governments and the public into aid on the ground.
“I think in time we need to ask ourselves as a world, are we properly geared up to deal with a disaster of this magnitude, recognising this is a very complex emergency because so many countries have been affected,” he said.
Barbara Stocking, director of Oxfam, echoed Mr Benn’s words, saying the UN was the world’s multilateral agency.
“We’re certainly not saying that the UN is perfect, but our view is that, seeing what happens on the ground, the UN is the only body that can do this, and we’ve got to back it and strengthen it.”
Separately, Jan Egeland, head of the UN relief operation, admitted the aid effort had encountered a number of ‘logistical bottle necks’.
Explaining, he said: “In Banda Aceh – the capital of the worst hit and poorest region – there is an airstrip which can only take one aircraft at a time, when that aircraft comes it has to leave before the next one can land.
“This is one of the examples of the extreme logistical nightmare we are having because so many roads, so many airstrips, so many airfields are severely damaged by the tsunami or totally clogged up.”
